Your New Boss

Starting a new job can be a source of stress, particularly if you are uncertain about some (or many) aspects of your job. It doesn't have to be that way. A friend recently got a new boss - but kept the same job - and asked me for some advice. Here are some tips I gave him, plus a few directed at anyone starting with a new employer.

1. Be Prepared. If you are new to the company, read as much as you can about its products, customers, competitors, and people. Big Picture: If you find what appear to be weaknesses of any sort (customer complaints, seemingly stronger offerings from other companies), think about how you would address them if you could. Small Stuff: Know your route to work. Get there early. Think about things that could go wrong and make sure you have adequate plans in place.

2. Know Your Role. Understand the important role your position plays in the company. Think you're not important? Maybe you are in the wrong place.

3. Look the Part. People who don't already know you will form opinions about you quickly. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. Smile, be open and friendly, and be well groomed and dressed appropriately for the work environment. On your first day, why not dress up a bit? You're new, everybody knows that. 

4. Anticipate Next Steps. When you receive an assignment, think (or ask) about how it fits into the big picture or is part of a larger effort. Knowing how what you do will be impact other roles will help you do better work. Knowing how what you do fits into the mission of the company will help you make better decisions, and perhaps over time enable you to make suggestions for improvements.

 5. Over Communicate. Never make your manager wonder what you are working on, where you are, when you will get your work done, or if you understand what you are supposed to be doing. Try sending the boss a brief summary of accomplishments for the week on Friday afternoon, and let him or her know what you will be doing next week. Do this until they tell you to stop, and you will definitely make a good impression.

6. If Something Isn't Clear, Ask. Trust me: you will not offend your manager by asking for clarification on an assignment, or asking for a firm due date, or asking for help prioritizing your work. Make sure there is no confusion upfront and you will have less stress. They won't be worrying about whether or not they will get what they asked for, and neither will you.

7. Exceed Expectations. Try to beat the deadlines if you can. But pay attention to how much time you spend on assignments, and don't overdo it. Again, ask if you are on the right track - don't be shy and don't make assumptions. Your first few weeks are critical in establishing a good relationship with the new manager and he or she will appreciate your desire to do the right thing. Don't think you are bugging him or her, they will welcome your interest.

8. Don't Get Discouraged. It will take some time to establish your reputation with your new manager and/or co-workers. Try hard to make the best impression you can early on, and they will look on you favorably. It's not that hard - show that you care, listen, react, and work hard and you will be exceeding expectations before you know it.

Don't Say That. Say This.

"No Problem"

If you work in customer service of any sort, from a sandwich shop to the highest level of elite product or service, you should never say "no problem" or "not a problem" when a customer thanks you.

Saying "no problem" sort of carries an implied "...this time." doesn't it?  As if you might have inconvenienced the person providing you with service, but fortunately for you in this instance, you did not. You want to delight your customers, not leave them with an uneasy feeling that they narrowly avoided offending you.

"My pleasure" (a la Chik-fil-A), "Glad I could help", or a simple "You're welcome!" are definitely more positive ways to respond.

"To Be Perfectly Honest..."

Another good one: "To be perfectly honest" or "In all honesty" or any variation of this.  What exactly is implied when someone says this? That they ordinarily are not completely honest, but in this case have decided to forego lying in favor of full candor and truthfulness?  Not likely what is intended, but what is conveyed nonetheless.

"I would suggest...", "I would recommend..."

Remove would from these phrases and they have real impact.  Leave it in and you are making a much more timid and tentative statement.  People want to know what you really think. If you are willing to make a suggestion or recommendation say it with conviction - don't diminish the value of your opinion by making it sound conditional. Unless of course it really is.

Gmail Tips and Tricks

E-mail may be on the way out, but it's not leaving most of our lives anytime soon. Here are some  Gmail Tips and Tricks that I've found useful in managing mine.

Yeah, rainy day at the beach today...

Cable Cutters: 18 Months Later

In November 2013, we decided to join the growing ranks of “cable cutters”, folks who no longer purchase cable TV through the traditional flat-rate subscription model.  Taking a look back 18 months later the results are pretty much what we expected: We've saved a lot of cash, watched higher quality programming than we likely would have otherwise, and lost the ability to talk about the latest TV commercials - because we simply don’t see them much anymore.

We had DirecTV with no sports package and no premium channels and were paying $100+/month. Today we use FREE Over The Air (OTA) digital TV (yes, it still exists you just need an antenna), TiVo, a Netflix Subscription and Amazon Video on Demand (we have Prime, so we get a fair amount of shows included at no extra charge). We pay an average of $56/month. We also added a Roku 3 to the mix, which has turned out to offer much better performance than the TiVo for streaming content.  It support Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and many other channels.  An excellent value at around $100.

The results: Over the first 18 months, we have saved just over $700, with an average savings of around $45/month.

Here’s the cool part, and what I was hoping to achieve by embarking on this experiment: our expense now varies month-by-month based on how much we watch, as it should.  When the kids are on break from school or we have downtime, we may watch more.  When we are too busy to watch TV, we watch less and we pay less.

My problem with the old model wasn't really with the expense. It’s the way the product is sold. Nobody needs or really wants 175+ channels of TV.  So why subsidize all that?  And why pay a provider for something that consists of approximately 33% ads that you don’t want to see?  Whether you watch them or not, if you have cable you are paying for ESPN, NFL Network and others which are built-in to your subscription fees.

It seems that we have known about the “really good” series and movies before they are released for on-demand viewing, saving us from wasting time watching potentially lower quality shows.  So we benefit from the thousands of people watching and providing feedback when these shows are originally broadcast, as well as suggestions from family and friends. The Wisdom of the Crowds certainly works especially well for the cable-cutter, but patience is required. Some content moves very quickly from broadcast TV to on-demand availability, and some takes a very long time for whatever reasons.  I’m sure there are a myriad of licensing and contractual issues at play, but it will be nice when things flow more quickly to being available on-demand.

We like sports, but very rarely sit down to watch an entire game all the way through.  We’re really satisfied with what is available OTA.  And while I originally thought we would want to record more stuff on the OTA networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, etc. that has not turned out to be the case.

Also, while doing this analysis, I realized we have paid nearly $150 for the privilege of watching a relatively small handful of movies on DVD from Netflix.  Definitely time to turn that off. RedBox?

Our TiVo is typically 99% full and we just don’t watch those recorded shows much.  Maybe time for it to go, too...

How I Work

Lifehacker runs How I Work features from time-to-time, and I've always enjoyed reading them.  It's interesting to see how people in various roles do their thing on day-to-day basis, and it's a good way to get inspired and pick up some tips, tricks and ideas for new and better ways to get things done.

To that end, here's my contribution.  I'll keep this updated over time as I discover new things or drop old ones.  I'm not saying any of these tools are the "best", they are just what I've found works for me right now.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome!